The file organiser that cannot delete your files.
It watches folders and files what arrives — previewing every run, and undoing any of them.
Apple silicon · 2.5 MBIntel · 3.5 MBChecksums
Downloads aren’t notarised — that needs a paid Apple membership this project doesn’t have — so macOS asks you to approve it once in System Settings. Homebrew compiles it on your Mac and skips that entirely.
4 files would move · nothing has moved yet
2 left alone — still downloading · it’s a folder
It has no delete.
Not a setting — a fact.
One type in the engine is allowed to touch the filesystem. It can create a folder and move a file. There is no third thing it can do, so the worst a bug can manage is putting something in the wrong place.
That is checked on every commit, not asserted in a README.
$ grep -rE 'removeItem|trashItem|unlink' Sources/TidewellCore
(no matches)
$ swift test
✓ No source file calls a deletion or overwrite API
✓ Directories are never candidates
✓ An occupied destination is refused, never overwritten
✓ Colliding names are suffixed, not replaced
61 tests passed
$ grep -rE 'URLSession|NWConnection' Sources
(no matches)
Change a rule. Watch the folder rearrange.
This runs the app’s real precedence — a filename rule first, then file type. Edit the pattern and the files move.
Rule matches 3 files — checked before file type
day-sheet-2026-08-28.pdf
day-sheet-2026-08-27.pdf
day-sheet-2026-08-26.pdf
invoice-0031.pdf
notes.md
holiday-2026.png
screenshot.png
backup.zip
installer.dmg
clip.mp4
Optional
Some files have names that say nothing.
No rule can help with scan_001.pdf — the name is all a rule has to go on. Tidewell can read the first page on your Mac and file it as what it actually is.
Needs macOS 26 on Apple silicon, and it is off until you switch it on. Everything else in Tidewell works exactly the same without it.
- Nothing is uploaded
- The model runs on your Mac. The app has no networking code at all.
- It picks a word, never a path
- One label from a fixed list. A bad guess is a wrong folder, shown in the preview.
- Tidewell downloads nothing
- Apple Intelligence is managed by macOS. The app only asks whether it is available.
- Off until you turn it on
- Per folder, and folders named for tax or medical papers stay off by default.
Seven things it will not do.
Delete or trash a file
It can create a folder and move a file. There is no third thing.
Overwrite anything
A name clash renames the arriving file. What is on disk is untouched.
Touch your folders
Only loose files. Nothing recurses into what you have organised.
Move a file mid-download
Anything still being written is sampled twice and skipped.
Reach the network
There is no networking code in the app. CI fails if any appears.
Touch a folder you didn't choose
It runs in the App Sandbox, so macOS enforces that — not the code.
Act without showing you
Every run previews first, and every run can be undone.
Hazel is more capable and has been for fifteen years. If you want a full rule engine and don’t mind paying, buy Hazel. Tidewell is for people who want the folder tidied without giving an automated tool the ability to delete things.
| Hazel | Forel | Tidewell | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $42 | Free | Free |
| Open source | — | Yes | Yes |
| Preview before acting | — | — | Always |
| Undo a run | Partial | — | Every run |
| Can delete your files | Yes | Yes | Never |
| Duplicate detection | — | — | Yes |
| Sandboxed | — | — | Yes |
| Rule conditions & actions | Yes | Basic | Yes |
| Reads document contents | — | — | On your Mac |
Tidy the folder. Keep the files.
Free, open source, and mechanically unable to delete anything.